A new study shows that saccharin and aspartame cause a greater weight gain than sugar, even though calories are kept at the same amount.
Uwe Hermann
Sugar cubes
The study was led by Fernanda de Matos Feijóa of the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University do Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Researchers gave rats plain yogurt sweetened with aspartame, saccharin, or sugar, plus their regular diet, for twelve weeks. Rats that ate the aspartame or saccharin sweetened yogurt gained more weight than those on the sugar sweetened yogurt, despite all the groups ingesting a similar amount of calories. Researchers think that the artificial sweeteners caused a decrease in energy used, or caused fluid retention. The study was published in the journal Appetite. (more…)

In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Olestra brand fat substitute, spurring the sales of potato chips that promised to satisfy cravings for fatty foods without the high-calorie consequences.

However, researchers from Purdue University are now saying that such synthetic fats — which pass through the body undigested — may actually lead to weight gain.

In a study on rats, the scientists found that rodents that ate a high-fat diet with the addition of potato chips made with fat substitute gained more weight than animals that consumed the same diet along with regular chips. (more…)